15 Things You’ll Only Know If You’re Vegetarian

1. People will always question your diet
Therefore you have a rehearsed speech that covers all the basics e.g. how long you’ve been vegetarian, when it happened and why you don’t miss meat.

2.

We always have to ring a

new restaurant before visiting tocheck there is a vegetarian option.
Although the majority of restaurants cater for us, there will always be that fear of not finding anything on the menu to eat. We’ve all experienced having to combine a cheese starter with a side of chips to make our meal. Carb overload.

3. We have to unofficially employ our partner or significant other as our own personal food taster.
This usually happens abroad when you don’t know the right word for vegetarian and the waiter brings you out a plate of suspicious looking food.

4.

Always being served first.
Whether it is a big family gathering or on a flight, you know that you’re always going to be getting the VIP treatment.

5.

Trying to explain to meat eaters what you actually eat.
For some reason non-vegetarians are always confused as to how we survive. It’s very simple… we eat everything you do except meat.

6. No mad cow disease for us.
One great thing about being a vegetarian is that you’ll never suffer from meat or fish-related illness.

7.On the occasion you do cook meat, it can be scary, because you can’t tell if it’s cooked properly or not.
A raw vegetable here or there isn’t going to do you much damage but raw meat is another story. Airing on the side of caution we tend to cremate everything.

8. You will always be known as the awkward dinner guest.
Unless your host is a veggie themselves, you can guarantee at some point in the evening they will make a point of how much extra effort they’ve gone through to cater to your ‘fussy eating’.

9. Never being able to share a food platter
Unfortunately unless you visit a vegetarian restaurant, the sharing platter usually contains meat and you won’t be able to pick and choose.

10.

Lack of inspiration from cooking shows.
The majority of the cooking shows on TV are aimed towards a meat-eating audience. Obviously you can swap in and out ingredients to make them veggie, but for the culinary challenged this is a big ask.

11.

Instant bond you have with fellow vegetarians.
Other vegetarians aren’t strangers, they are just friends you haven’t met yet. For some reason when you discover a new acquaintance also eats meat-free, you instantly bond and start discussing recipes.

12. New season excitement.
Every new season means a new vegetable. Where meat and fish usually tastes the same all year round, our primary foods, like the weather, have different seasons that we look forward to.

13.

People wrongly presume Christmas dinner is difficult for us.
Besides the turkey, it’s the only meal where everyone enjoys eating different types of vegetables. Honey roasted parsnips, cauliflower cheese, salted Brussels sprouts – and don’t even get us started on the cheese board!

14.

It’s cheap to be a vegetarian.
In the nicest way possible, as a veggie you’re a cheap date. The vegetarian option is usually the least expensive thing on the menu and so is our weekly shop. Living life on a budget is a piece of cake for us.